Meta’s Oversight Board has considered the company’s content moderation policies amid a violent crackdown and widespread protests following Venezuela’s disputed presidential election. In its decision, the board said Facebook users should have more leeway in posting about state-backed armed groups known as “colectivos” with statements such as “kill those damn colectivos.”
The company sought guidance from the Oversight Board on the issue last month, noting that its moderators had seen a “flood” of “anti-colectivo content” in the wake of the election. Meta specifically asked for the board’s input on two posts: an Instagram post that contained the words “Fuck you! I hope they kill you all!”
which Meta says was targeted at colectivos, and a Facebook post that criticized Venezuelan security forces with the words “Kill those damn colectivos.”
The Oversight Board said neither of the posts violated Meta’s rules about calls for violence and that both should be understood as “aspirational statements” from citizens of a country where state-backed violence has threatened free expression.
“The targets of aspirational violence are state-backed forces that have contributed to the longstanding suppression of civic space and other human rights violations in Venezuela, including during the current post-election crisis,” the board wrote in its decision.
“In contrast, the civilian population has been the target of massive human rights abuses.” The Oversight Board also criticized Meta’s practice of making political content less visible on its services.
“The Board is also deeply concerned that, in the Venezuelan context, the company’s policy of reducing the distribution of political content may undermine users’ ability to express political dissent and raise awareness of the situation in Venezuela to the widest possible audience.” It recommended that Meta adapt its policies in a way that “ensures that political content, particularly around elections and post-election protests, is deserving of the same access as non-political content in times of crisis.”
This case is not the first time the board has participated in the debate over the role of political content on Meta’s apps.
Earlier this year, the board accepted its first case related to a post on Threads, which is also expected to consider Meta’s controversial decision to limit recommendations of political posts on the service. The board has not yet published its decision in the case.
The ads will appear as image posts among content in users’ feeds and will only be visible to “a small percentage of people” in the US and Japan. Meta plans to start with “a handful of brands” in both countries, according to Mosseri.
“We know we’ll get a lot of feedback on how we should think about ads, and we’re making sure they’re inclusive of the Threads posts you find relevant and interesting,” he wrote. “We’ll be monitoring this test closely before scaling it more broadly, with the goal of getting ads on Threads to a place where they’re just as interesting as organic content.”